by JG Jerome
Trina giggles, “It tickles!”
Jana tells her, “Stay still, dearie. Just a couple minutes longer.”
Finally, Jana leans heavily again on Cholley and slowly lifts her foot. The root hairs curl up onto her foot as she slowly puts her weight back on her foot.
“You can get up, dearie,” Jana says with a happy sigh.
Trina bolts to her feet and wraps Jana in a hug. She tells the old woman, “Thank you so much, Jana. My face is still a mess, but I feel it starting to heal now. Thank you.” She kisses the crone’s cheek.
Patting Trina’s face, Jana says, “You blessed me, little one. It was my pleasure.” Looking at Cholley she says, “Would you help me down to the creek, Warrior? The more water I can absorb, the faster the shadows will grow.”
Cholley holds her hand saying, “It is my honor to assist you, Lady Jana.” He leads her slowly down the hill. They pass a young woman carrying a basket who stops and points them to a particular spot. Jana shakes her head and points to another spot and then pats the younger woman on her shoulder. The girl kisses the old woman’s cheek and then continues toward the center of the grove.
Meriam calls to her, “Hello Cassandra!”
She responds, “Hello Meriam. I brought food and drinks for our guests.”
Meriam smiles, “Actually Cassandra, we are their guests. These worthies are Lady Daphne and Lady Trina, concubines of the Green Lord. Ladies, allow me to introduce Cassandra. Like me, she has no family name. She is the naiad in our group. Like dryads, naiads only get a second name once they have a named water way they nurture. For dryads, it’s a forest rather than a water way. As I plan to start my grove on the Lord’s land here, I will likely never have a second name.”
Trina says with a knowing smile, “You haven’t meant Jack, our Lord. I suspect he will give you a name that is very dear to him.”
Daphne laughs, “Don’t you just know it!”
Meriam isn’t sure what the joke is, but she is glad the ladies are happy. “Please ladies. Have a seat. Let’s have some refreshments.” They all sit and enjoy walnuts, hazelnuts, and fresh water.
Chapter 17 - Talking to the Bitch
(Jack’s Condo in Phoenix, Arizona)
Solange walks forward and wraps Chelsea in a hug and kisses her cheek.
She says, “It’s been a while, Chelsea. How have you been?”
“I’m doing well, Solange. It’s great to see you. It’s too bad I’m here on business. I’d love to catch up with you.”
I say, “Chelsea, let me introduce the rest of my family. At the door is Tiphanae, at the table are Christie, Marisol, Charli, and Kristina. On the island is Persimmon.”
I hear a low growl rumbling. I turn to look at the boys and see the brooding, bearded brunette snarling at Persimmon.
Chelsea barks, “Cool it, Juan.”
I walk up to the big man. He’s tall enough I can look him in the eye, and he is packing at least 50% more muscle than I am. I say, “Hey, Juan.” He looks at me guiltily. “I said, that is Persimmon. She is my friend, my employee, and part of my extended family. Are you and I going to have a problem?”
He drops his eyes and head. “No, Lord.”
I persevere less severely, “Did you have a bad experience with some of Persimmon’s people?” He nods shyly, keeping his eyes on the floor. “How would you like it if everyone judged shifters based on the behavior of the asshole I neutered in Cottonwood? Would that be fair?” He shakes his head. I wrap up, “Persimmon is one of the sweetest people I know. Her brother and sister are here, too. They’re great kids. They recently lost their father. As I am partially responsible for his death, I have adopted them as my own. Please treat them as if they were my own children.”
He looks up at me shyly, “Yes, Lord.”
I pat his shoulder, “You want a coffee, Juan?” He nods. I offer him my hand, and he shakes it gently.
Christie hustles over and starts a mug of coffee while Juan struggles to chill.
Chelsea looks at me bashfully, “Sorry Jack. I didn’t expect the little people, or I would have left all the boys outside. All of us were in a battle about 15 years ago with the Winter Court. Our unit was attacked by a group of the winged folk with poison blades. Juan lost a brother. David, the bearded blond outside, lost two and was poisoned himself. Rory, the ginger outside, lost a cousin and was down for months purging the poison. Jeremy,” she points to blond standing behind Juan, “almost died; it took over a year for him to recover.”
“That’s terrible!” shouts Persimmon as she flies to land on my shoulder. “Gentlemen, I am sorry for your loss. I am a demi-fey of the Green Lord’s court. Love is the Lord’s superpower, and we his people spread his power and try to emulate his model. I can’t remove your pain, but I can offer you love. Will you let me kiss you, Juan?”
Juan looks up at her terrified. She continues, “I won’t fly to you, but if you hold your hand out, I can walk up your arm to kiss your cheek. It might help you better control your reaction in the future.”
Juan grimaces and says, “Okay.” He slowly sticks his hand out, and Persimmon slowly crawls onboard. Juan bravely pulls Persimmon closer to his face. She slowly reaches up and places both hands on his cheek and says, “Blessings of the Green Lord upon you, Lord Juan.” Then she plants a firm kiss to his cheek.
Juan closes his eyes with the kiss and relaxes visibly. When she removes her hands from his face, Juan moves his hand in front of his face. “Thank you, Persimmon. That helped. I’m okay if you fly now. Be well, little lady.” He gives a slight smile as Persimmon jumps and lands on my shoulder.
Jeremy’s baritone voice rumbles, “You gonna fly over here and bless me with a kiss too, little lady?”
Persimmon giggles, “On my way, Lord Jeremy.” She darts over and hovers while touching Jeremy’s face and planting a kiss on his cheek. “Blessings of the Green Lord upon you, Lord Jeremy.”
She zips past my head, “Heading back to my post, my Lord!”
Christie brings Juan a mug of caffeinated goodness. She tells him with a smile, “From the Green Lord’s personal espresso machine - a double Americano. Milk and sugar are on the table if you need them, Juan.”
He smiles, and then his eyes pop as he makes the connection of who she is. “Th-thank you, your highness.”
Christie waves her hand at him and says, “Oh, pooh! I’m Christie, concubine of my Lord. No princesses here!” She winks at him, plants a kiss on my lips, and moves back to the coffee machine
I tell her, “Thanks, darling” as she sashays away with a little extra hitch in her giddyup.
I address them all, “Chelsea, fellas, we’ve plated all the eggs and bacon, but we have fruit, yogurt, bread, cold cuts and cheese. Help yourself.” Juan and Jeremy both opt for coffee. I wave the boys to have a seat at the island.
I pick up my plate and wave Chelsea to my seat as I hook a foot into ‘Trina’s chair’ and pull it around to face the table.
“Okay, Chelsea” I say as she takes a seat and grabs a bowl. “You mentioned this is a business call. What can I do for you?”
She nods as she spoons berries into the yogurt. “That’s right, Jack. My Alpha needs your help resolving the issue you spoke of just a moment ago. I think you referred to him as ‘the asshole you neutered.’ The Alpha is grateful that you identified the problem and solved it cleanly and elegantly. Ronald is in custody, and the Yavapai County and Cottonwood law enforcement are handling the situation with uncharacteristic discretion. There has been no mention of a serial killer, yet all the remains have been recovered, Ronald plead guilty, and all of the cases are closed.”
She takes a bite of fruit and yogurt and moans her approval before continuing. “The Alpha feels he is in your debt, but he needs your help again. He is trying to recover the wolf, and he’s having no luck. Will you help him?”
“Why?” I ask. “Why does he need to recover the wolf? I’m assuming since you’re here, your Alpha considers this an urgent matter. I g
otta tell you, your timing is crap. The rest of my family was abducted by the Winter Court’s monarch last night. I need to concentrate on rescuing the rest of my family.”
Chelsea nods as she swallows another bite, “Yes, Jack. You do. And if you help the Alpha of all the Wolf Shifters for all of the Americas with this matter, he will owe you not one, but two boons. Think about having the pack at your back as you rescue your family. Wouldn’t that be helpful?”
I launch out of my chair and pace to burn off the negative energy, “Of course it would, Chelsea. The situation is so screwy right now, and I have very little intel. Having the pack with me would be a big strategic multiplier, but I have no view of the battlefield right now. My family is split! I’ve got this group here, another group outside Cottonwood, and a third group that are probably being tortured by the people that are supposed to be their family. Once I have a glimmer of the situation in Springfield, I need to act.”
Kristina launches to me and wraps her arms around me. “We’ll get them, Jack. We will bring my sisters home, rain woe upon their tormentors, and comfort family in our arms.”
All the ladies of my family solemnly swear, “Thus mote it be.” I feel the power of their love and their commitment to their missing and injured sisters.
I stop moving and nod. “Thus mote it be,” I reply.
Chelsea gets up and genuflects before me, “Thus mote it be, Lord.” She raises her head, stands and pulls my shoulders to allow her to kiss my cheek.
I grasp Chelsea’s shoulders and kiss her cheek in return. I look down at her. “Okay, if we’re going to do this, we better get on the road.” She nods up at me.
I reach around behind me and pull Kristina around to the front of me. I tip her chin up and kiss her tenderly. “Thank you, Darling” I tell her. “Thanks for helping me focus. You’re a treasure.” She hugs me tightly and stands on her toes for another kiss.
I look to Solange, “Do we need to recover any equipment or bags from last night?”
She nods, “Yes, Lord. We need to get at least a couple of vehicles, our bags with our uniforms, tac gear, and weapons. There’s not a lot of it, but we need it. You don’t have enough weaponry and resources here to take on the court if it comes to that. Considering how Myra was nabbed, we need to consider that possibility.” She drops her head, “I feel like such a fucking failure that they came in and just took them away from me.”
I blink to stand in front of her. Kristina is startled as I disappear and Solange is startled as I appear in front of her. I snake a hand to wrap around her head and pull her to me. I tell her, “If anyone here is the failure, it’s me. If I had stayed, I could have put her asleep and taken control again. Instead, knowing she was broken, I chose to put a band-aid on a her and left you all to deal with her. I fucked up. Your queen told you to run, and you did. Because of your choice, quick decisions, and actions you are now here to help me rescue the rest of our family. You are a success. You are fabulous, capable, and beautiful. I love you, and I treasure you.” I kiss her warmly, and then clasp her closely to me.
She squeezes me. “Thank you, my Lord. I’m not worthy of that level of regard.”
I squeeze her back. “I don’t think I’m worthy of your love, Solange. However, I’m not foolish enough to drive you away. I’ll work to become worthy of you.”
She looks at me and shakes her head. “You amaze me, Jack.” She caresses my face and then kisses me again. Then she cocks an eyebrow and says, “Now how the hell did you do that teleport thing.”
“Elven heritage,” I tell her. “It’s one of the things L’liana has been working with me on.”
Marisol chips in, “I saw some of the other things she’s working on at Thanksgiving. Has she managed to deep throat you without gagging yet?” Kristina and the Ravens all break up in laughter.
I blink over behind Marisol and spank her ass. I spin her around as she squeals at the spank and plant a kiss on her lush lips. I tell her, “Very funny, smart ass!”
She burrows into my chest as she hugs me and mumbles, “Thank you, my Lord.”
I hold her to me and say to Solange. “So here’s what I’m thinking. I go to visit the Alpha with one of the Ravens and Chelsea’s escort. You take my CRV with Marisol, Kristina, Chelsea, Tiphanae, Marigold, and Acorn to recover your gear and as many vehicles as you need.
Solange shakes her head, “No offense to Chelsea or her men, but I’m not comfortable sending you off with only one guard, Jack.”
Chelsea says, “Solange, you’ll have me. I have value to the Alpha. Jack’s solution allows him to split his forces and guarantee his safety with my safety as his insurance. I suspect he didn’t even think of it that way, but it’s an elegant solution regardless. I bet you the only reason he’s taking a Raven with him is he knew you would worry about him too much without one of your crew with him.” She cocks an eyebrow at me. I school my expression and try not to give away how surprised I am at her perception.
“Will that work, Solange?” I ask.
She walks over to me and wraps Marisol and I in a hug. “Yes, my Lord. But you go armed. And you check in once an hour.”
I kiss her cheek. “Yes, ma’am.”
I look over at Christie, “Are you okay holding the fort, Sweetheart?”
She smiles at me brightly, “It will be my honor, if it is okay with the Queen of the Hearth.” She looks at Kristina.
Kristina gives her a wry grin, “Of course, Darling. It’s not my hearth. It’s our hearth - all of ours. I trust you completely, sister.”
Christie hurries over and hugs the smaller woman tightly. “I love you, Krissie”
Kristina reaches up and kisses her. “I love you, too. Christie. I’m so glad you joined our family.”
Solange nods, “Okay, Jack. We go with your plan. Ladies, we go armed with tasers and pistols. The shotguns go in the cargo space. Krissie, you keep the sawed-off on you. We can put it on a sling under your jacket once we dismount. Mari and I will use influence ability to smooth the way and change memories. Keep it simple, direct, and get out quickly. Let’s finish brunch and get underway.”
We hurriedly finish breakfast, and then Christie starts in on kitchen clean-up while the rest of us get ready to go. I finish dressing, hand out weapons and ammo to the ladies, and ensure that every group has at least one phone.
Before leaving, I set up Christie’s phone with Hide My Ass. HMA, as it’s commonly called, is a VPN app that lets you appear to be using the network from anywhere in the world. We set her up to look like she’s calling from Flagstaff, and she is set to call Megan via WhatsApp periodically.
Chelsea goes with Solange, Tiphanae, Kristina, and Marisol go to the garage to pick up Acorn, Marigold and my CRV to recover gear and vehicles from the arena, while Charli and I leave out the front of the building with the four male wolves. We load into their Suburban and head to Cottonwood.
Once we get onto I-17, I call Trina and ask her to meet us at the Red Rooster in Old Town Cottonwood. She tells me they will all three be there, and that she has more to share with me when we meet.
Chapter 18 - Clean-up Aisle 3
(Jack’s CRV, driving back downtown to the arena.)
While Marisol drives the CRV, Solange watches from the ‘shotgun’ seat.
Tiphanae, Kristina, and Chelsea sit across the back seat while Acorn and Marigold sit in the cargo compartment.
Kristina says with a grin, “It’s a good thing I’m relatively small!” She squirms to jostle her seat mates as they share a subdued laugh.
Chelsea says, “Solange, I need to let the Alpha know the status. I’ll be quick.”
Solange replies “No problem” while keeping her eyes front and scanning.
Chelsea puts an earpiece into her ear and dials a number into her mobile phone. She nods and says, “Hello, sir. Jack agreed to help. He’s headed up with the boys and Charli, one the Ravens. I’m headed into Phoenix with the rest of Jack’s family to retrieve gear and vehicles that were abandoned
.” She listens before adding, “Apparently the Winter Queen attacked last night at the arena, and half of his family were abducted. You will make big points with him if you offer to help retrieve his family.” She listens again. “I think they were taken to Springfield. Ask Jack for the details. He said he’s hurting for intel. Anything we can learn will likely be appreciated.” She listens again for a moment before signing off, “Sure thing. I’ll see you soon. Love you, too!”
Kristina says, “That’s so sweet! I didn’t know wolves were so demonstrative with their mates.”
Chelsea gives her a wry grin, “It depends. In my case, I hope to find out one day. That was my dad. Ever since mom died, he’s become more of a “doting father” figure.”
Kristina laughs, “Oh, I had that all wrong! Solange, did you know that?”
Solange chuckles, “No. I always thought Carl was your mate. You two are affectionate with each other and rarely separated. What happened to your Mom?” Solange asks as she continues to scan.
Chelsea waves her hand and says, “She died years ago - when I was eight. I hadn’t even shifted for the first time yet. I remember the smell and warmth of her, and I have some pictures of us together and a handful of memories. I miss her, but Dad has been my only parent since she died. We were living in the wilds of Canada at the time, and she was shot while in her wolf form. Head shot from a high-powered rifle will kill a wolf, silver or not. I never saw her after she ran out for that hunt, but I understand that the hunter was using a .50 caliber black powder rifle. I heard from some of the wolves on that hunt that there wasn’t enough left above her shoulders to identify her. They ripped the poor bastard to shreds. Supposedly my dad shoved the rifle up the poor dying bastard’s ass, and finished him with the same gun he killed my mom with.”